Quotes about doing
page 83

“I pray. I go to mass. I even remember to respect my elders and help little old ladies across the street. What the hell did I do to deserve this?”

Lora Leigh (1965) American writer

Source: Wild Card

Hell, Help

“I know I can do it," Todd Downey said, helping himself to another ear of corn from the steaming bowl. "I'm sure that in time her death will be a mystery, even to me.”

Stephen King (1947) American author

Source: Two Past Midnight: Secret Window, Secret Garden

Death, Time, Help

“What do you know about dragons?”
“They're big, scaly, four-legged creatures with wings who terrorized small villages until a virgin was offered up as a sacrifice.”
His grinned again. “I do miss the virgins.”

Katie MacAlister (1964) Author

Source: You Slay Me

“We don't have a great war in our generation, or a great depression, but we do, we have a great war of the spirit. We have a great revolution against the culture. The great depression is our lives. We have a spiritual depression.”

Chuck Palahniuk Fight Club

Source: Fight Club

War

“The best thing you can do for your fellow, next to rousing his conscience, is — not to give him things to think about, but to wake things up that are in him; or say, to make him think things for himself.”

George MacDonald (1824–1905) Scottish journalist, novelist

The Fantastic Imagination (1893)
Source: A Dish of Orts
Context: A fairytale, a sonata, a gathering storm, a limitless night, seizes you and sweeps you away: do you begin at once to wrestle with it and ask whence its power over you, whither it is carrying you? The law of each is in the mind of its composer; that law makes one man feel this way, another man feel that way. To one the sonata is a world of odour and beauty, to another of soothing only and sweetness. To one, the cloudy rendezvous is a wild dance, with a terror at its heart; to another, a majestic march of heavenly hosts, with Truth in their centre pointing their course, but as yet restraining her voice. The greatest forces lie in the region of the uncomprehended.
I will go farther. The best thing you can do for your fellow, next to rousing his conscience, is — not to give him things to think about, but to wake things up that are in him; or say, to make him think things for himself. The best Nature does for us is to work in us such moods in which thoughts of high import arise. Does any aspect of Nature wake but one thought? Does she ever suggest only one definite thing? Does she make any two men in the same place at the same moment think the same thing? Is she therefore a failure, because she is not definite? Is it nothing that she rouses the something deeper than the understanding — the power that underlies thoughts? Does she not set feeling, and so thinking at work? Would it be better that she did this after one fashion and not after many fashions? Nature is mood-engendering, thought-provoking: such ought the sonata, such ought the fairytale to be.

Thinking

“How can you pass laws about things that nobody knows?"
"They do it all the time," says Hayden. "That's what law is: educated guesses at right and wrong.”

Neal Shusterman book Unwind

Source: Unwind

Education, Law, Time

“Percy: "Hey, why do pegasi gallop as they fly, anyway?"

Blackjack: "Why do humans swing their arms as they walk? I dunno, boss. It just feels right.”

Rick Riordan book The Last Olympian

Variant: Why do you need to gallop while you fly?"
"Why do humans have to sway their arms while they walk? I dunno boss, but it just feels right.
Source: The Last Olympian

Feeling, Flying

“Do you forget that I am your sister?”
“No; I’ve never been granted the opportunity to forget it.”

Georgette Heyer book Frederica

Source: Frederica

Sister, Forgetting

“Your religion is what you do when the sermon is over.”

H. Jackson Brown, Jr. (1940) American writer

Religion

“Until we have met the monsters in ourselves, we keep trying to slay them in the outer world. And we find that we cannot. For all darkness in the world stems from darkness in the heart. And it is there that we must do our work.”

Marianne Williamson (1952) American writer

Source: Everyday Grace: Having Hope, Finding Forgiveness And Making Miracles

World, Heart

“Far away, our dreams have nothing to do with what we do. The wind carries the night, and passes on, aimless.”

Mahmoud Darwich (1941–2008) Palestinian writer

Source: Absent Presence

Dreams, Night

“Is Tyson okay?' I asked.
The question seemed to take my dad by surprise. 'He's fine. Doing much better than I expected. Though 'peanut butter' is a strange battle cry.”

Rick Riordan book The Last Olympian

Source: The Last Olympian

Question, Cry

“Know all the Questions, but not the Answers
Look for the Different, instead of the Same
Never Walk where there's room for Running
Don't do anything that can't be a Game”

Zilpha Keatley Snyder book The Changeling

Source: The Changeling

Game, Question

“It is far easier for a woman to lead
a blameless life than it is for a man;
all she has to do is to avoid
sexual intercourse like the plague.”

Angela Carter (1940–1992) English novelist

Life

“Begin where you are and such as you are, without aiming mainly to become of more worth, and with kindness aforethought, go about doing good.”

Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) 1817-1862 American poet, essayist, naturalist, and abolitionist

“You know how cats do. They hide to die. Dogs come home.”

Thomas Harris Red Dragon

Source: Red Dragon

Dogs, Home, Cats

“I think piracy is a bit like drinking. You want to stay out all night doing it, you pay the price the next day.”

Scott Lynch book Red Seas Under Red Skies

Source: Red Seas Under Red Skies

Drink, Thinking, Night

“Do you think that I count the days? There is only one day left, always starting over: it is given to us at dawn and taken away from us at dusk.”

Jean Paul Sartre book The Devil and the Good Lord

Act 10, sc. 2
The Devil and the Good Lord (1951)

Thinking

“Americans Will Always Do the Right Thing — After Exhausting All the Alternatives.”

Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

This is a modification of a March 1967 quote by Israeli politician Abba Eban who said, "Men and nations behave wisely when they have exhausted all other resources." Eban used various versions of this quote over the years. In 1979 he said, "My experience teaches me this: Men and nations do act wisely when they have exhausted all the other possibilities." http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/11/11/exhaust-alternatives/ <br class="br">In a 1970 Congressional hearing, a version of the quote first referenced Americans. It was attributed to an unnamed Irishman. "And indeed, we often know how to do things by the philosophy that was expounded by another Irishman I know. He said that you can depend on Americans to do the right thing when they have exhausted every other possibility." http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/11/11/exhaust-alternatives/ <br class="br">The earliest known attribution of the quote to Churchill occurred in 1980. http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/11/11/exhaust-alternatives/ <br class="br">Misattributed

“The coach could do a goat-hoof tap dance around Nico’s head and the son of Hades wouldn’t even budge.”

Rick Riordan book The Blood of Olympus

Source: The Blood of Olympus

Dance

“'There are moments, Jeeves, when one asks oneself, "Do trousers matter?"'
‘The mood will pass, sir.’”

P.G. Wodehouse book The Code of the Woosters

Source: The Code of the Woosters (1938)

Mood

“It’s good for you to think of this, son. Ponder. Worry. Stay up nights, frightened for the casualties of your ideology. It will do you good to realize the price of fighting.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: Steelheart

Thinking, Fight, Night

“Man has no moral instinct. He is not born with moral sense. You were not born with it, I was not - and a puppy has none. We acquire moral sense, when we do, through training, experience, and hard sweat of the mind.”

Robert A. Heinlein book Starship Troopers

Source: Starship Troopers

Sense, Training

“Any questions?"
"Ya why do your drawings suck so bad?”

Tite Kubo (1977) Japanese manga artist

Source: Bleach, Volume 01

Question, Drawing

“I do not like strangers because I do not like people I have never met before. They are hard to understand.”

Mark Haddon book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Source: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

People, Understanding

“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) English poet, author

Source: Selected Poems

love, Cute, Romantic, Valentine's Day

“Reason lost the battle, and all I could do was surrender and accept I was in love.”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

Source: The Witch Of Portobello

Love

“He slowed down a bit more. "Gaia, how do you know these things?" She shrugged. "I'm smart." "And modest, too." "Modesty is a waste of time," she pronounced. "I'll keep that in mind.”

Francine Pascal Fearless

Source: Fearless

Time

“His whole body shakes with the strain as he tries to lift something he knows he can't lift, something everybody knows he can't lift.

But, for just a second, when we hear the cement grind at our feet, we think, by golly, he might do it.”

Ken Kesey book One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Source: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Thinking

“We do not at present educate people to think but, rather, to have opinions, and that is something altogether different.”

Louis L'Amour (1908–1988) Novelist, short story writer

People, Education, Thinking

“Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.”

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America

Variant: Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.

Motivational, Back To Work

“It doesn't matter, anyway, why you like me. Just that you do.”

Sarah Dessen book This Lullaby

Source: This Lullaby

“You are now, and you do become, what you think about.”

Earl Nightingale book The Strangest Secret

Source: The Strangest Secret

Thinking

“There is a simple way to package information that, under the right circumstances, can make it irresistible. All you have to do is find it.”

Malcolm Gladwell (1963) journalist and science writer

Source: The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

Way

“I'm doing one of three things: I'm writing. I'm staring out the window. Or I'm writhing on the floor.”

Thomas Harris (1940) American author and screenwriter

“If everyone waited to do something good until they had purely unselfish motivations, no good would ever get done in the world. The point is to do it anyway.”

Wendy Mass (1967) American children's writer

Source: 13 Gifts

World, Motivation, Waiting

“You work three jobs? Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that."

To a divorced mother of three, Omaha, Nebraska, Feb. 4, 2005”

George W. Bush (1946) 43rd President of the United States

“Perhaps it's good for one to suffer. Can an artist do anything if he's happy? Would he ever want to do anything? What is art, after all, but a protest against the horrible inclemency of life?”

Aldous Huxley book Antic Hay

Source: Antic Hay

Life, Art, Suffering, Happiness

“But it's not enough to know right from wrong. You need the strength to do what's right, even when what you want most in the world is the wrong thing.”

Cinda Williams Chima (1952) Novelist

Source: The Exiled Queen

World

“If a man ordered a beer milkshake he'd better do it in a town where he wasn't known.”

John Steinbeck book Cannery Row

Source: Cannery Row

Beer

“And so a person can never promise to love someone forever because you never know what might come up, what terrible thing the person you love might do.”

Anita Shreve (1946–2018) American writer

Source: Testimony

Love, Personality

“I never thought of losing, but now that it's happened, the only thing is to do it right. That's my obligation to all the people who believe in me. We all have to take defeats in life.”

Muhammad Ali (1942–2016) African American boxer, philanthropist and activist

Statement before his fight with George Foreman (31 March 1973)

Life, People

“what was fang going to do BLOG about max throwing herself into space so she wouldn't have to kiss him again? NO instead he smashed his fist against the cave wall then grimaced at the pain and stupidity seeing his bloodied knuckles”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports

Pain, Stupidity, Kiss

“The most sensible thing to do to people you hate is to drink their brandy.”

Elizabeth Taylor (1932–2011) British-American actress

Source: A View of the Harbour

Hate, People, Drink

“Saints have no moderation, nor do poets, just exuberance.”

Anne Sexton (1928–1974) poet from the United States

“Always do whatever's next.”

George Carlin (1937–2008) American stand-up comedian

“life is to be lived. if you have to support yourself, you had bloody well better find some way that is going to be interesting. And you don't do that by sitting around.”

Katharine Hepburn (1907–2003) film, stage, and television actress

Life, Way, Support

“I wanted to hold happiness in reserve, like a bottle of champagne. I postponed it because I was afraid, because I overvalued it, and then I didn't want to use it up, because what do you wish for then?”

Curtis Sittenfeld (1975) Novelist, short story writer

Source: The Man of My Dreams

Happiness

“Oh, what a tangled web do parents weave
When they think that their children are naive.”

Ogden Nash (1902–1971) American poet

"Baby, What Makes the Sky Blue?"

Children, Thinking, Parent

“This is what you should know about losing someone you love. They do not travel alone. You go with them.”

Augusten Burroughs (1965) American writer

Source: This Is How: Proven Aid in Overcoming Shyness, Molestation, Fatness, Spinsterhood, Grief, Disease, Lushery, Decrepitude & More. For Young and Old Alike.

Love, Travel

“Unheralded we came into this world. Unheralded we will go out. But while we are in this world, we do such deeds that even if this generation does not remember, the next generation cannot forget.”

Vikas Swarup (1961) Indian novelist and diplomat

Source: Al Milyūnayr Al Mutasharrad =Slumdog Millionaire

World, Forgetting

“I understand too well the dreadful act
I'm going to commit, but my judgement
can't check my anger, and that incites
the greatest evils human beings do.”

Euripidés Medea

Source: Medea

Understanding, Evil, Anger

“I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it.”

Harry Truman (1884–1972) American politician, 33rd president of the United States (in office from 1945 to 1953)

Interview http://books.google.com/books?id=r03gAAAAMAAJ&q=%22I+have+found+the+best+way+to+give+advice+to+your+children+is+to+find+out+what+they+want+and+then+advise+them+to+do+it%22&pg=PA104#v=onepage with Margaret Truman, sitting in for host Edward R. Murrow, on Person to Person, CBS Television ( 27 May 1955 http://www.tv.com/shows/person-to-person/may-27-1955-1040725/)

Graduation, Children, Way

“Doing the will of God leaves me no time for disputing about His plans.”

George MacDonald (1824–1905) Scottish journalist, novelist

God, Time

“I will remember this, thought Ender, when I am defeated. To keep dignity, and give honor where it's due, so that defeat is not disgrace. And I hope I don't have to do it often.”

Orson Scott Card book Ender's Game

Source: Ender's Game

Hope

“I enjoy the fun of failure. It's fun to fail, I kept repeating. It's part of being ambitious; it's part of being creative. If something is worth doing, it's worth doing badly”

Gretchen Rubin (1966) American writer

Source: The Happiness Project: Or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun

Failure, Parting